The present invention relates to cigarette cartons, and more particularly to the connection of at least two cigarette cartons to form a multiple unit carton compatible with commercially available tax-stamping machinery.
Cigarette packs (which usually contain twenty cigarettes) are generally rectangular in shape, having front and back long walls connected by two short side walls. Cigarette packs are-typically packaged by the manufacturer in cigarette cartons, and are arranged so that the front long walls of the packs are in the same plane and the back long walls are in a parallel plane spaced from the front long walls, with adjacent side walls abutting one another. The filled cartons are usually temporarily closed and shipped to various distributors. The distributors generally open the cartons to apply the tax stamp that may be required by the jurisdiction in which they operate to the ends of individual cigarette packs while the packs are still inside the cartons. Such procedures are commonly automated, to reduce time, cost, and labor, through the use of specially designed machines for applying tax stamps. Tax-stamping machines have been developed to open the cartons, apply the stamps, and finally seal the cartons for distribution. Such machines are generally commercially available, and are well known in the art. These machines have been developed for ten-pack cartons, i.e., cartons containing two rows of five cigarette packs per row. A typical tax-stamping machine is model FUSON manufactured by Meyercord of 365 East North Avenue, Carol Stream, Ill. 60187.
Although cigarette packs are commonly sold in ten-pack cartons, it has become desirable to sell smaller units of cigarette packs in smaller cartons than ten-pack cartons. However, because ten-pack cartons are the most common configuration, tax-stamping machinery is designed for stamping groups of five cigarette packs arranged side by side and contained in ten-pack cartons, i.e., for stamping five consecutive pairs of cigarette packs. Consequently, cartons containing fewer than five pairs of cigarette packs cannot readily be passed through existent tax-stamping machines without adjusting the machines. Such cartons are therefore typically hand-stamped, which is both costly and time consuming.